by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)
The beaches of Lukannon
Language: English
I met my mates in the morning (and oh, but I am old!) Where roaring on the ledges the summer ground-swell rolled; I heard them lift the chorus that drowned the breakers' song - The Beaches of Lukannon - two million voices strong! The song of pleasant stations beside the salt lagoons, The song of blowing squadrons that shuffled down the dunes, The song of midnight dances that churned the sea to flame - The Beaches of Lukannon - before the sealers came! I meet my mates in the morning, a broken, scattered band. Men shoot us in the water and club us on the land; Men drive us to the Salt House like silly sheep and tame, And still we sing Lukannon - before the sealers came.
Text Authorship:
- by Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936), appears in The Jungle Book, in "The White Seal", first published 1894 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882 - 1961), "The beaches of Lukannon", 1898-1947, published 1958 [ men's chorus a cappella for verses 1,3; mixed chorus, strings, and harmonium for first refrain chorus ], from The Jungle Book, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 123